I'll Take EBV for $500, Alex

A couple of weeks ago, Allegra asked if she could go to NY with her girlfriend. Said girlfriend was attending a family reunion and wanted to bring a friend, so she asked if Allegra could come along and while they were in NY, they'd do some shopping. I gave my permission.

I didn't talk to her much over the course of those four or so days. When she came back, she was really tired.

She's always tired. ALWAYS. This is a child that can sleep and sleep and then get up and sleep some more. She has a habit of staying up late, and she just could sleep all day. So when she came home tired, I didn't think much of it. Teenage girls, staying up late, talking, chatting - it's only natural she was tired. Yes?

As a bit of history, she's the one in the family who always gets sick as well. One of the other kids might bring home a cold - for Allegra, it morphs into bronchitis at least once a year. She's my kid who had pneumonia. She does not eat well, does not like to take vitamins, loves junk food with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. She stays up late and then wonders why she's tired. She has no resistance and is a run down pile of goo a lot of the time.

Typical teen.

But when she came home from NY, her face was swollen. Really, really swollen. Her eyes were puffy and red and she slept. And slept and slept. We have a history of food allergies in the family, and she has a few, and she'd eaten a couple of new foods over her vacay weekend, so I treated her for food allergies - meaning, she looked EXACTLY like Gabe does every time he has an exposure, so I pumped her full of benadryl and sent her to bed.

She had a sore throat. She had a headache. Her tummy hurt. She cried that she felt miserable, and she slept the better part of Monday and Tuesday. I was scheduled to leave for Blogher Wed morning, and so I talked with my hubby briefly. We agreed that if she still looked puffy on Wed, I'd call and get an appt for her at the pediatrician. He'd never been to the pediatrician, so this was sure to be an experience.

Wednesday came, she asked for the appointment, went back to bed. I called during my layover and gave the nurse her history - new foods (shellfish, ahi tuna, mahi-mahi and lamb - so I was thinking a shellfish allergy, but was really puzzled as to why the benadryl wasn't working and why she was still so, so puffy)

My hubby put on his big girl panties, took her to the pediatrician, and called me the second I landed in NYC. They had been sent to the hospital for testing.

He dealt with it as best he could, which is to say that he sent her to bed and she texted me all weekend long.

And yesterday, she sobbed for an hour, begging me to call the doctor and talk to her. Her side was killing her. Her throat was on fire. She had been puking for four days. She was exhausted and worn out and yet, unable to sleep.

I consulted Dr. Google, my first and best resource for medical needs, and saw that the number one concern for mono is spleen rupture. Pain in the location just where she was indicating, and so we called and by using the super secret code words of severe spleen pain + puking for four days we were able to secure an afternoon appt. With the doctor who treats my boys, my very favorite. Yay!

Upshot is, she's looking at at least a couple more weeks of this. Her spleen (really, say that word a bunch and type it over and over and it begins to just look odd) had enlarged so much that it's well below her ribs and her side is a bit distended. Her face and neck are swollen due to the lymph nodes being swollen. Her tonsils are touching in the back, flame red and covered with cottage cheese looking grossness. She's lost 5 pounds, which isn't much, unless you are a 5 ft 95 pound weakling. She's (obvs) out of Muay Thai for a minimum of a month. She's been told to try to sip small amounts of ginger ale and eat crackers - standard stuff for vomiting - and was given an AWESOME talk on nutrition and taking care of your body and not letting yourself get run down. Oh, and the best part? Her side has been hurting FOR A MONTH and she never told anyone - because she thought it was she was out of shape and needed to work harder in Muay Thai class.

Comments

I remember my Senior Year of high school I got mono. OH MY GAWD it was awful. I was in drama, dance, track and worked full time, and I didn't take care of myself and got sick. I never been really sick maybe one day a year, so I thought that this was the flu or a real cold, didnt bother my mom too much about it. She finally took me to the doctor, they diagnosed me at the same time giving y mother dirty looks for waiting so long to take me in. Not really her fault, but all she did was complain that I was going to be out of work for two weeks and omg she would have to figure out what she was going to do about money. Strange that is all I remember about that!

Make sure she gets lots of rest, it is so hard to get a negative reading once you have Mono, in fact I had to go back twice to be swabbed. UGH!

OH that poor girl. And her poor poor Mama. What a mess. I wish you had recorded the nutrition talk, my daughter needs to hear it. I'll be thinking of you (and her). My DD just got over strep and it was stressful for ALL of us, and I can just imagine the stress of MONO. GAH!

I have a friend who gets a mystery illness about once a year, and this year it was Mono. She was in Germany at the time, and the doctor just kept telling her that she wasn't anemic. Real useful info, you know.

Here's to hoping she'll take the lecture to heart, and rest and recover quickly.

This part: "she's the one in the family who always gets sick as well. One of the other kids might bring home a cold - for Allegra, it morphs into bronchitis at least once a year. She's my kid who had pneumonia. She does not eat well, does not like to take vitamins, loves junk food with the passion of a thousand fiery suns."

Describes Bella to a T! I can't count how many times she has been sick in her short 5 years.

Hope Allegra feels better soon! We're dealing with a mystery for our teen Daughter right now. Last summer her joints bothered her terribly and then stopped. It's back again this summer. She's negative for Lyme disease, RA, Thyroid, etc. So, right now we're waiting it out.

Mono is not pleasant I am sorry to say. Had it the last year of high school. Lost weight, tired all the time, no interest in anything, couldn't go anywhere. It took a few months to get over. It is not the end of the world, but it is going to take awhile. The first few weeks are awful but after that it is just the fatigue. Time for bed rest, videos, popsicles, laptops, and waiting for time to pass. Get better soon Allegra.

Poor girl - I had mono during college and the sore throat was the worst part. Maybe you could get some sort of numbing spray for her throat, doesn't help you heal any faster but helps with the pain at least a little.

I got mono 5 days after my 40th birthday! It was crappy, but even worse, I would get relapses EVERY MONTH for about 6 months! Sore throat, very tired, etc. The doc said to really try and take it easy, but I still have 6 kids and run a retail business. Obviously, taking it easy is the key. Please make her, for your sake as well!

@Beth -- oh no, I'm 27 and have been told if I haven't had mono by now, I've most likely been exposed and become immune. Maybe not.

Carmen, that sounds just awful, and I hope Allegra feels better and can resume her normal activities fairly soon. On the upside, at least it is still summer vacation...I know that doesn't seem like an upside to her but I knew kids in high school who had to go to summer school or even repeat the whole year because they missed so much when they had mono.

My 18-year-old sister-in-law had mono this year. Miserable stuff. Urge her really to CONTINUE to take care of herself as replapses are common if she is not treating her body right (vitamins, good sleep, healthy food). My sister-in-law has had a couple small relapses because she runs herself ragged and doesn't eat well. Your daughter is in our prayers.

As a side note, my sister-in-law also ended up with trench mouth during her bout of mono. Just keep an eye on her gums for pus or blackening. They had to give her a really strong antibiotic that finally helped her with that part of it. It really is so hard on the body.

Mono's horrible. I still remember being called out of an important meeting because my 17 year old was on the phone, crying because his throat hurt so bad. They gave him steroids and it helped a lot. Once he could eat and drink again, he got better. Hang in there.

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Carmen Staicer is a whirlwind of energy and execution, who never sleeps and drinks way too much coffee. She works from home as Social Media Programs Manager for SheKnows, and is the mom to six kids, most of whom play instruments, sing or dance and all of whom are much smarter than she will ever be. In other words, her house is never ever quiet or still. A concentration of asthma, food allergies, spectrum disorders and learning disabilities means that she spends an awful lot of time second guessing herself and Dr. Googling, as well as learning to cook everything the family might like to eat. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, boxing (she has her Black Belt in Muay Thai), sleeping, exploring coffee shops, photography, ballet class and cooking. She excels in being a smart mouth and has her major in sarcasm, with a dual minor in BS studies and avoiding laundry.